Militants overrun parts of key Iraqi city

BAGHDAD (AP) - Islamic militants overran parts of Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, today, driving security forces from their posts and seizing the provincial government headquarters, security bases and other key buildings. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked parliament to declare a state of emergency. The battle for Mosul was a serious blow to Baghdad's attempts to tame a widening insurgency by a breakaway al-Qaida group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Earlier this year, the group took over another Iraqi city, Fallujah, in the west of the country, and government forces have been unable to take it back after months of fighting.